The Times They are A-Changin'

Some of you may need to sit down for this one .  This post has nothing to do with Okinawa but I started this blog so that I could keep loved ones (and their friends) updated as to what's is going on in our lives while we're living in the Eastern Hemisphere .  An event took place around here that if I neglected to share it with you there's a chance you wouldn't recognize me when I returned to the U.S.  Something happened today that is so monumental, so unbelievable that you might hear about it in your local papers tomorrow.  Some said it would never happen.  Some might dismiss this as too good to be true.  But, believe me when I say that today I became the proud owner of THIS: 

Ok, CALM DOWN.  Stop hyperventilating into the brown bag.  You knew this might happen some day, but you just never thought it would be in this lifetime.

Some of you may not know this about me, but I am not at all technologically minded.  My last cell phone was a close relative of this: 

It really was a sad, slightly embarrassing piece of communication equipment.  I just never got around to jumping on board the smart phone bandwagon.  Apparently while I was busy sewing my denim jumpers researching homeschooling curriculum, everyone else was out buying these cool little gadgets.  The first time someone talked about texting I think I told them, "Wait, you mean like a text book?"  Their "Whatever, Grandma" look told me that I had completely missed the boat on this one.  After that I would just smile and nod like I knew what everyone was talking about, but in all honesty I really had no idea. 

In my defense, I think my aversion to technology is genetic.  We were almost the last people in Jacksonville to get cable.  We never had the kind with the long wire that you could zip up and down the channels--we went straight to the remote control type.  Every time my sisters or I would ask for cable, Mom would bring up her ONE friend who didn't have it yet and use her as an example that not everybody has 45 channels.  We didn't get a VCR until 1987, and think I had graduated from high school before any food was microwaved in our house.  I still have family members who are concerned that one of the kids is going to wake up with a third arm due to the microwave radiation. (You know who you are!)   Luckily, we did have some friends whose parents were more technologically savvy so we weren't left too much in the dark ages.  ("You mean, you put this big tape in the machine, and then you get to watch Annie whenever you want?  You guys must be rich!")  Unfortunately, my understanding is that my dear husband's family was also on a similar timeline when it came to acquiring modern TV equipment and kitchen appliances.  So, together, we were a lost cause and I feared our children would pay a dear price.  One of us had to make a change.  But, unlike me, he has failed to overcome his simple childhood and has yet to embrace the computer and smart phone age.  His friends will back me up on this when I tell you that his eyes actually glaze over when any computer lingo enters the conversation.  This is the man who is proud to say that he still does not have a facebook account. 

Back to the iphone.  You're probably wondering what has led me to make this earth-shattering purchase.  Well, my lack of texting was starting to be more than an inconvenience.  Apparently my dinosaur phone could accept texts, but I didn't know how to retrieve them.  Whenever it made that funny noise I just assumed one of the kids had played with the phone.  When the texter would ask, "Hey, did you get my text?" I'd have to lie make up some pitiful excuse as to why I didn't respond.  Then there were some organizations in SC who relied heavily on texting as their main form of communication.   When I discovered (too late) that I'd missed a meeting or that some kid's practice schedule had changed, I knew my non-texting days were numbered.

Finally, the move to Okinawa really threw a monkey wrench in any plans I had of continuing to use my old cell phone.  For starters, I left the phone on the plane to Seattle, but even if I hadn't done that, U.S. cell phones don't work here in Japan so I would have had to buy a new one anyway.  Then I kept hearing from people who lived here about how helpful their iphone has been when they're out and about exploring the island. 

Which leads me to tell you all in the AARP crowd what this nifty gadget can do.  Basically it's like a little computer in the palm of my hand.  If I need to find out what the yen rate is, all I have to do is download this little "app" and I can calculate the yen rate right there at the cash register to make sure I'm not getting ripped off.  Surprisingly, Garmin doesn't make any GPS compatible maps for Okinawa, Land of the Unnamed Streets.  But, now, with my handy dandy iphone, I have a little GPS unit wherever I am and we will never be lost again!  There's a translator "app" so the next time I'm lost looking for a preschool for Mary, the person at the mystery establishment (which I thought was a preschool but I think was actually a cross between a library and a medical clinic. . . I'm still not quite sure) won't have to call her husband who speaks a little English to help me find my way.  It can take pictures, play music, show movies, wash dishes. . .  (I'm kidding on that last one. . . just making sure you were paying attention!)    I can also text with it (which, apparently, is like email for your phone.)  Let's not forget, I can even make phone calls with my new iphone. 

So, all you people who used to make fun of me behind my back (and probably in your texts) about my old cell phone. . . the jig is up.  I'm finally up to speed.  Now, if I could only figure out how to turn this thing on! 

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

I know, it's too soon to me to post again and I'm probably getting annoying, but I had to brag tell you about our first real Okinawa touristy sight-seeing experience.  If you look through any Okinawa travel guide, you'll find that the first "thing to do" will be to visit the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.  (All right, I'm making that up. . . I don't know if it's the FIRST thing to do. . . but it should be!)  We've always had a thing for aquariums. . . we've had one close to almost every duty station and, no matter their ages, the kids (usually) like going for a visit.  I think it's something about the fish and huge tanks of water that they find mesmerizing.  So, after Mass this morning we loaded the children, lunches, and movies into the car started on our road trip.  The aquarium is actually quite far for Okinawa standards.  It's about 70km (or about 43 miles) from our house.  And, remember, you can't go faster than 50mph on the "expressway" so a trip that might take 45 minutes in the U.S. took an hour and a half over here. 

The road trip itself would have been enough for me.  Here's a picture I got while we were flying down the highway---

We also saw this slightly disturbing sign...



Do you really need the "caution" part if
 there's a wild boar chasing you?





After avoiding the wild boars we finally arrived at the aquarium and made a beeline for the Kuroshio Sea tank. The aquarium's greatest attraction is its large central tank which holds three whale sharks, several other run-of-the-mill sharks, and lots of giant stingrays and manta rays.   It's actually the 2nd largest tank of it's kind in the world (and I'm not making that up this time.)  Once we got there we were not disappointed.  I took a short video of it, complete with the Japanese narrator, so you would feel like you were there.  We had no idea what she was saying, but it didn't matter because the view was so breathtaking: 

(If the video starts & stops, click on the "pause" button and wait until the faint red line goes all the way across.  Then click "play" and it should run more smoothly.) 

Just to give you a better idea of how huge these fish really are, here is a picture of the kids in front of the tank.  

Here's one of Bill and me  (and Mary, who popped in at the last minute!)

There were other creatures there, of course.  Here are a couple of pictures of some other cool sea animals we saw:

This next picture has nothing to do with fish, but I know some of my germ-conscious female friends and family members will appreciate it.  I apologize to my more-sensitive readers if this is too much information.  This machine was in the bathroom stall at the aquarium.  It helps sanitize the toilet between users.  These Japanese think of everything! 

After seeing the whale sharks and other fish (and the bathrooms) we wandered outside to the "Dolphin Lagoon."  Yes, you heard right. . . this aquarium also had quite an impressive dolphin show.   I accidentally had my camera set to "video" when I tried to take this shot, so you, too, get a quick (and I mean quick) glance at the show:

Again, we had the Japanese narrator and we didn't understand a word she said.  When we saw all the little Japanese kids running down to get closer to the dolphin tank, we figured it involved something special and we encouraged our own kids to go down there too.  Little did we know we were sending our unsuspecting children down to this. . . .

Here's the aftermath:

Our last stop on our aquarium visit was playtime on a huge, net-structure called Kids' Adventure Land.  I think you'll understand why this is not an OSHA-approved  recreational apparatus.  A warning to all mothers out there (especially you first-timers) -- this isn't for the faint of heart. 

Can you believe these Japanese?  You mean to tell me that they expect the kids to go out and have fun when they play?  And actually exercise and exert some energy?  Without any protective gear or anything?  What could they be thinking!  There's even the possibility that the kids might . . . dare I say it . . . Get Hurt.  (gasp!)  What is this world coming to?  You would have thought that this sort of thing was right up Mary's alley.  It was her mother's greatest fears all wrapped up in one. . .fear of heights, fear of falling, fear of dangling children. . . . But, of course, this kid is full of surprises.  She thought the water fountain and faucet were way more interesting.

After an exciting afternoon, we finally headed back home.  This last picture describes how we all felt. 

Wish you were here...we miss you all! 



Home Sweet Home

I know you've all been waiting on pins and needles to hear about our house hunting drama adventures.   I chose to wait and tell you about it once it was all in the past because I didn't want you all to think we were having a miserable time in Okinawa and Bill should quit the Marines and come home right away.  Also, I knew--whatever happened-- that it would all work out.   I'll cut to the chase...we do have a house, we've moved in, I'm surrounded by unpacked boxes and I'm sneaking this time on the computer while Bill has gone to the store to get light bulbs.  If this post comes to an abrupt end, you'll know my move-in monitor has returned.  To make a long story short, it's been a challenging process but in the end I think we're pleased with our living situation.  For more details, keep reading.....      

I'd mentioned in another post that living on base was questionable because there are ongoing housing renovations in several areas so there aren't many vacant homes available. This was the case on the base where Bill works, but fortunately, there are several military bases on Okinawa.  Families in our situation have the option of requesting housing on another base.  Unfortunately, this is a very complicated process and apparently the housing people have no idea what they're doing.  After some begging and pleading and arguing, we were finally shown a 4-bedroom townhouse toward the end of our first week.  The townhouse was just OK.  The inside was fine--a little dated, but tolerable.  The outside left a lot to be desired.  There was very little yard space, and although this was government housing, the neighborhood was actually outside the base.  So all those benefits of "on base" housing--being close to the commissary, schools, etc... didn't apply here.  Also, many of the neighboring rows of townhouses were undergoing renovation and the housing people told us that this unit would probably be renovated within the year.  That meant ANOTHER move, and possibly another change of schools for the kids. The Marine Wife part of me said, "Buck up and deal with this...it could be much worse."  But the normal, longing-for-decent-housing-and-decent-schools part of me just felt her heart sink at the thought of living in this house.  Bill and I talked about it, and after talking to a better-informed friend going through the same housing issues, we discovered that if we sacrificed one bedroom there was a chance that we would be offered housing ON the base in a very good neighborhood.  The dirty little secret is that the "3-bedroom" actually does have 4 bedrooms--only one of those rooms is really small, so they call it a "study."  We decided to take our chances with this option.  That Friday we were finally offered a single-family 3-bedroom house.  It was perfect.  It had so many great features: the kitchen had been recently renovated; the bedrooms were decently-sized; it was on a cul-de-sac; and the schools were close (within walking distance!) The clouds parted and birds started singing-- it seemed our housing woes were finally over!  Well, not so fast.  On our way back to the hotel, as the kids were deciding which bedrooms would be theirs in the new house, Bill received a call on the cell phone.  Apparently our idiotic inexperienced housing representative had mistakenly offered us a house that had already been reserved for another family, so we were back at the starting line, again. 

Friday was the beginning of a holiday weekend (4th of July) and we decided to take our minds off of the housing uncertainty and do a little exploring.  This was our first experience with the Fabulous Okinawa that everyone is always talking about. We found an awesome park with a huge roller slide and a walking path that led up to a picnic area up on a cliff.  (That might make the kids think twice before complaining about their food!) 

We did see this disconcerting sign:


You don't have to read Japanese to figure out what this means!


That same day, the kids were relieved to get a little taste of home:

 
Tuesday we found ourselves back at the housing office, arguing and begging and pleading again.  We finally managed to talk to The Right Person who took pity on our case and who seemed familiar with the system.  She even stayed after hours and at 5:00pm we received a call from her saying she had found a house!  Unfortunately, the office which held the keys was closed so we'd have to wait until Wednesday to see the inside.  But, she gave us the house number, so with address in hand we drove back through the good neighborhood to check out our potential new home.  We probably looked like prowlers trying to break in as Bill risked back injury giving me boost after boost so I could see into the kitchen and bedroom windows.  At one point we heard Colors playing (the music they play on military bases when they're taking the flag down) so Bill, who was in uniform at the time, ceased all prowling activities immediately and stood at attention while the National Anthem played.  I'm sure we made a great first impression.  The neighbors were probably thinking, "Great...they're freakshows and Marines!" This is an Air Force base, after all!   At any rate, we loved the house (or at least what we could see from the outside) but past experience had taught us that we'd better not get our hopes up again.  Wednesday morning we were back at the housing office to get the keys.  Once we got to go inside the house we discovered it was very similar to the other great house we'd seen, except the kitchen was a little more dated and the living/dining area was slightly different.  But, it was on base, it had enough room, it had a yard, and it was in walking distance to the kids' schools.  To be honest, barring a snake infestation or some kind of obvious sewage problem, there wasn't much that would have made us reject the house. We raced back to the housing office and accepted the house as fast as we could before they changed their minds again! Hallelujah--we finally had a house! 

We spent a few more days at the West Pac Lodge while the government furniture shipment was scheduled.  Finally on Monday, July 12, we picked up the keys and were made the official tenants of 2266 Kearby Circle.  In case you're curious, here's a little floorplan of our new home.

I'll give you the nitty gritty about the house (or as far as I can tell from only living here for a week.)  For starters, it's smaller than the last few houses we've had.  For those of you who saw our house on New River or our first Cherry Point house, it's a lot like that.  Parris Island people....it's a lot like the old one-story Laurel Bay houses.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, maybe you should come visit us more often!  (hint hint)  I might have to admit that the Marine Corps may have actually known what they were doing when they significantly limited our weight allowance, because if we'd brought all of our stuff with us I have no idea how we'd fit it into this house.  It's in the 1400 sq ft range, so not super tiny, but definitely cozy for six people.  Maybe that's why they make you stay at the hotel for so long--once you finally get housing it feels like a mansion compared to the hotel rooms! 

Here's a quick run-down of the house: 

Kitchen:  Not bad, but dated.  And, for the vertically-challenged, the cabinets are, well, challenging.  There are enough of them, but I have a hard time time reaching half of the upper cabinets.  I'm trying to convince my live-in handyman to build a semi-permanent step so that I can stop jumping on the counter every time I need to reach something up there.  And, not to sound spoiled, but it doesn't have a pantry.  It's the universe's cruel joke to let me live in a house with a gigantic pantry and then to move me to a pantry-free house.

One great thing is that there's a laundry room right off the kitchen. (vs. being actually in the kitchen, like one of our other houses.) There's a good-sized counter & cabinet area in there as well, so some of the kitchen appliances have spilled over into the laundry room.  And the door to the laundry room goes right to the driveway, so no walking through the house to bring groceries in.  Someone was thinking with this place! 

Bathrooms:  Again, dated.  (That's pretty much the theme of this house.)  The kids' bathroom has a seventies-inspired blue bathtub.  When was the last time you even saw a blue bathtub?  If we were in Marine Corps housing, I'd be convinced they'd gotten a good deal on blue bathtubs, but this is Air Force housing so I'm stumped. Maybe it was a fluke and now they only let Marines live in this house since we're used to unfortunate home decorating choices.

Bedrooms:  Not bad, but smaller than our last house. Of course, anything is going to be smaller than our bedroom in Beaufort.  I could have probably fit this whole house in there! 

Walls:  Normally one wouldn't consider describing the walls of a house but I felt they deserve a little attention here because they are made out of concrete.  I'm told this is to help keep the house from blowing away during the frequent typhoons.  I have a feeling I'm going to become very familiar with the masonry drill bit. 

Yard:  The yard is great!  The back yard has a huge tree good for climbing, and we back up to a small wooded area/jungle.  So, except for the slight possibility of snakes and the alarmingly loud sound of cicadas that wakes us up each morning, I can't complain.  Also, the front yard has a shaded area that is just perfect for a two-person glider (which just happened to be on sale at the exchange last week!)  And the best thing, I haven't noticed much of an itchy bug problem.  (There are bugs, but not too many of the itchy, biting kind.  Or maybe there are, but after living in South Carolina we've become immune to their venom.) 

This past week has really been a crazy blur.  Our two shipments arrived during the week and we've been unpacking and organizing all our treasured items into the nooks and crannies of this house.  I know I spoke very favorably of our packers Stanley, Mark, and Travis a few posts ago, but if I could track them down today I'd have a few choice words to say to them.  Maybe they missed that day in Packing School when it was taught that EVERY box should have a label on it.  Or that both shoes in a pair should be packed in the same box.  Or that, just because there's one book in a box doesn't mean that the box should be labeled "BOOKS."  I shouldn't complain too much...they did manage to squeak us in under our weight allowance at a whopping 4,168 lbs.  And so far I haven't noticed any missing items, so it doesn't look like they did any one-stop shopping to get us to that weight.  

Well, Bill is back from the store and I should be getting back to unpacking.  I'm realizing that unpacking is very closely related to cleaning, and you all know much I LOVE doing that.  I wonder if cardboard would ever be considered a trendy home decorating item.  Hmmmm......

Just for fun, a few more pictures...

Finally, the day has come when the kids can help out with the unpacking....



....but not all of them. 



The coffeemaker's here....we really are home! 



We're not in Kansas Anymore......................... ~Part 2: 80 kph

You may have noticed I was a little vague in my last post regarding the events of our first week here on Okinawa.  Here's why--it sucked. There's just no way to sugar coat it.  The night we landed we arrived to tropical storm conditions.  Luckily, we were so tired from our 20 hour journey that we hardly noticed the howling winds and beating rain at our window.  The next day was rather cloudy and rainy, but that afternoon we took advantage of a break in the weather to take the hotel shuttle the to get some supplies at the base exchange & commissary (civilian translation: mini-shopping mall & grocery store.)  You may be asking, "Why the shuttle?  Didn't you guys have a sponsor who was supposed to help you out with transportation?"  Well, the Marine Corps in its infinite wisdom matched us up with unmarried sponsor whose car could only carry two-thirds of our family.  She also seemed to feel this was a Monday -- Friday gig, so we were left to fly solo over the weekend. Our FIRST weekend.  On an island thousands of miles away from everything we knew.  At any rate, the shuttle was tolerable, and except for the annoying driver Drew--who talked to us like he was Mr. Rogers-- it would suffice as our means of transportation until we bought some cars.  

As if we didn't have enough going on, while we were in the commissary Mary seemed unusually subdued.  Rather than running around begging for every sugar-filled, hyper-inducing "food" item, she insisted that Bill carry her.  That should have been our first clue that something was amiss.  Well, as Bill was reaching for much needed coffee, Mary threw up all over him.  Good times.  We weren't too surprised--we had just spent 20 hours on a germy airplane and Mary's germ prevention habits are still in development, so we half-expected something like this, but we didn't expect it at the commissary.  I'm sure we made quite the first impression on Okinawa!  That little bug lasted about 24 hours, and the next afternoon she was back to her usual chaos-causing self. 

Even though we had limited means of transportation, it was important that both Bill & I attend certain meetings together, such as those pertaining to housing.  And, since we didn't know anyone to watch the kids, they had to come along too.  Sitting through the meeting with them wasn't an issue--they've behaved remarkably well throughout this whole ordeal. (I guess they've figured out that Mom is one meltdown away from the cookoo bin so they're doing their best to get along.) The big problem was GETTING to the meetings since we didn't all fit in the sponsor's car.  At one point our solution was for Bill to ride with the sponsor with a couple of the kids, and for me to follow behind in a taxi with the other kids.  When we chose this option, I had no idea our journey to the housing office would require taking the Okinawa Expressway where the top speed is 80 kilometers per hour.  (That's the equivalent of 49 miles per hour--but since most speed limits are in the 25mph zone, it seems really fast.)  At one point it got a little stressful when our taxi driver wanted to take a particular exit but our sponsor wanted to keep going.  He's talking excitedly and (likely) cursing in Japanese, she's waving him back on to the expressway, and it finally hit me--what on earth am I doing here?  How did all this happen?  One day I'm a cute little 22-year-old, fresh out of college looking for a teaching job in Jacksonville.  Then this guy I've known since high school asks me out, he joins the Marine Corps and those dress blues are so darn cute, and the next thing you know it's 15 years later and I'm flying down the interstate in Okinawa at a hair-raising 49 miles per hour with a Japanese taxi driver who couldn't speak three words of English....or Spanish, for that matter!  It was certainly a surreal kind of moment, but the good news is after a little bit of last-minute swerving (and a few prayers) we finally got behind our sponsor again and made it to our housing meeting.  Not quite something I'd like to go through again, but it was certainly an interesting experience!  The housing meeting was much less exciting and not nearly as productive as we'd hoped, but I'll get into that in another post.

Another thing we had to do that first week was attend a Newcomers' Orientation and take a written driver's test before we'd be allowed to buy a car and drive on the island.  The word Bill and I both used to describe the Newcomers' Orientation was....PAINFUL.  For starters, the auditorium's thermostat was set at about 46 degrees, so we spent 5 hours freezing while several base representatives gave their own version of this speech:  "You are all visitors in this country.  Be good representatives of America.  Don't do anything that might get you into any sort of trouble.  A tiny, little infraction could turn into an international incident that could put the military's presence in the Pacific in jeopardy, so BEHAVE."  After all that, this sweet, proud little Japanese lady came on to tell us all about the wonderful things to see and do on Okinawa.  However, after being threatened for 5 hours, we'll probably never want to leave the house! 

After we'd suffered sat through the Newcomers' Orientation, it was finally time for the moment of truth--the driver's test.  It was a written exam, and most of the driving rules are similar to those in the United States (except for the fact that they drive on the left side of the road.)  But about 40% of the exam was deciphering the road signs which are nothing like those used in the United States.  For example, would you be able to figure out what this means?

This is a Stop sign.  I dont know why they don't used the old fashioned octagon, but they don't.  Which begs the question, how do little Japanese school kids ever learn what an octagon is?

Here's another one: 

Bill and I kept calling this "No rickshaws allowed" but it really means road closed for light vehicles.  I guess rickshaws are considered light vehicles. 

This was Bill's favorite: 

It actually means "bumpy road ahead" but all we could think of was "Boobs in the Road."  Either way, drive slowly. 

Finally, we were stumped on this one: 

We could not, for the life of us, remember what this sign meant.  The official definition is "Road Closed for Vehicles Carrying Explosives" (which, apparently, is such a problem on Okinawa that they had to make a sign.)  Finally, we decided the Japanese writing looked like the mangled aftermath of an explosion, so if you don't want that to happen, don't bring your explosive vehicle down that road.

I guess all those little tricks worked because we both passed our tests! Woohoo! However, we were still without a car.  There are two ways to get a used car here on Okinawa--going to a used car lot, or using a private seller.  The cheaper way is to go through a private seller, usually another military person getting ready to move off of Okinawa.   This was also a better choice for us because the sellers are usually so desperate to get rid of their cars that they're willing to bring it to the buyer for a test drive.  Since we were car-less, we took advantage of their desperation (and we shared our own desperate circumstances) and asked a couple of sellers to bring their vehicles to the base hotel so we could check them out.  We quickly settled on a 2001 Subaru Traviq whose primary selling point is that it had enough seating for 7.  (Don't worry, Dads....we also checked to make sure it's road worthy and had a pretty good maintenance history.)  We've lovingly nicknamed this car "The Silver Bullet" (which, for Marines, has another, very disgusting connotation and you'll have to ask one to explain it to you because I'm not going to do it here.) 




As if you couldn't tell from the expression on his face, my editor/husband wants me to let you know that he thinks this is a very corny picture and takes no responsibility for its inclusion in this blog.

 
This was originally going to be my car, but after driving it around a few days we realized that getting into and out of the third row seat involved a lot of fighting folding seats and moving them around, plus Bill really took a liking to the little car.  We finally made a decision on a second vehicle, a 2000 red Mazda MPV, aka "The Red Racer."

So by the end of the first week we'd managed to get some transportation, but we were still homeless.  I'll discuss the roller coaster ride of a housing search in my next post.

We're not in Kansas Anymore..................... Part 1: Jax to Oki

We've been on Okinawa about a week, and I thought it was high time I shared our adventures with you all.  It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride, so sit back, grab some coffee and enjoy the show!

We left Jacksonville on Tuesday, June 21.  The few days leading up to the departure were stressful in that there was so much to do and it felt like it would be impossible to get it all finished.  But, finally, we stuffed as much as we could into our suitcases, loaded our things (and ourselves) into no fewer than 3 vehicles, and headed down to the Jacksonville airport.  All total we had 7 huge duffel bags, one large rolling suitcases, one hanging bag (solely for Bill's uniforms--because they can't possibly mingle around with the rest of our civilian attire!) a carry-on duffel bag, a carry-on rolling suitcase, and 4 backpacks.  It seemed impossible, but after we checked in 9 of the larger pieces of baggage, our load got much lighter.  After a not-so-long and tearful goodbye, we finally went through security and eventually boarded our flight to Seattle.  And I'm happy to report there were no journalists or film crews making a news story of our pending departure!  Here are some pictures of the eager travelers:

Nine long hours later we finally landed in Seattle.  This is when we realized we may have been a little too optimistic in the carrying capability of our little ones.  Here's Bill trying to figure out the logistics of dividing & hauling 14 pieces of luggage to our shuttle area: 

Look at Andrew trying to escape!  He
knows he's about to get drafted into service!

 
I had mistakenly assumed--since all the luggage was on wheels--that the kids would probably be able to drag it around without trouble, but once I saw Mary heaving & grunting  and practically pulling her arm out of her socket in an effort to move her 50 lb duffel bag, I realized I had overestimated their abilities.  And we didn't quite know how far we could take the pay-to-borrow luggage carts and whether or not they were allowed in the shuttle area.  So, after a lot of whining and dragging and threatening we finally managed to get all of our things to the area where the shuttle would pick us up and take us to the hotel.  Here's the "after" picture...don't they all look happy to be here?

Finally, our hotel shuttle guy, aka Mr. Muscles, arrived and must have seen our pitiful condition, because he insisted on loading ALL of our things into the van by himself!  Then once we got to the hotel, he took all of our belongings all the way up to our room.  If the girls had been old enough, I probably would have married one of them off to him, but since that would have been a little creepy we settled on giving him a tip large enough to buy a weeks' worth of groceries.  Don't judge--grumpy children, exhaustion, and aching muscles make you do crazy things. 

We had one day to spend in Seattle before our trip to Okinawa, so we decided to head over to Downtown and visit the famous Seattle Pike's Place Market, home of the flying fish.  I had heard a lot about this place and many had told me it was a "can't miss" Seattle landmark.  But, to be honest, I don't know what all the fuss is all about.  Here's a quick video--you be the judge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrLE3Wr6oLs&feature=player_detailpage

The kids We all were slightly disappointed that I had picked this as our main destination because, really, it was short-lived entertainment.  I mean, you've seen one fish fly, you've seen them all.  And I'm not sure how great it is to be eating fish that has been thrown around like that in the first place!

Eventually, the disgruntled tourists and I made it back to the hotel.  We ate dinner and prepared our things for our early morning trip to the airport.  Finally, we laid down for a whopping 3 hours of sleep.  At the horrific hour of 12:45AM, we received the dreaded wake up call.  We zombied out of the hotel and into the shuttle...back to the airport.  This time were were much better prepared and we did not hesitate to spend a small fortune on those fabulous luggage carts.  By 2:30am we had checked in to our flight and were sitting in the USO...to wait, and wait, and wait.  The littler kids fell sleep wherever they could as the place was filled with dozens of other weary travelers heading to Okinawa. (Mary chose the floor.)  The older kids were able to watch a Disney movie playing in the USO--just what they've always wanted to do at 3am! 

Our boarding time was 7:30am, so around 5:30 we went through security and found a restaurant that served breakfast.  Finally, after having been awake for over 7 hours, we heard the much anticipated boarding call.  Apparently everyone else was just as excited we were because this line formed in about 6 seconds:

The line moved surprisingly quickly and we were on the plane in about 15 minutes.  Let me tell you, once we got on that plane you immediately felt a sense of kinship with all the other travelers.  This was a military flight primarily filled with other families moving to Okinawa.  We'd all been through months of excitement & frustrations & nervousness as we prepared for this move, and finally we were all here, ready to embark on this long-awaited journey.  Ok, maybe I'm over-dramatizing this a little, but I, for one, thought it was special.

(Quick sidenote:  When I say "Military Flight" I'm not saying we were all strapped into nets in the cargo hold of some gray military aircraft.  This is a regular, commercial-like airplane managed by the Air Force whose sole purpose is to transport military personnel & families back and forth from overseas locations.  There were movies and meals and beverage service and everything.  They even had little screens showing our flight path and where we were on our trip.  However, if the Marines ran this thing, I have no doubt we would have been strapped into nets in the cargo hold, like this....)


The Marines' version of First Class


We took off and settled into our 11 hour flight to Japan.  The boys were still wound up from all the excitement of the last few days, so I gave them a little "flying medicine" and they drifted off to dreamland for a few hours.  The flight was surprisingly smooth and we saw some amazing views of mountains and glaciers as we flew over the Northern Pacific.  I was very impressed, since glaciers aren't too common in Florida.  We finally landed in our first stop in Japan.  We were all so excited to have finally landed, but that excitement was short-lived as we were led to this very hot, very crowded waiting area where we sat around for a few hours as they cleaned & readied the plane for the rest of our journey.  This is not a fond memory of our first hours in Japan, and we couldn't get back on the plane soon enough.  Unfortunately, when we eventually did get back on the plane, we had to wait around some more because there was some kind of warning light for one of the doors.  I'm very glad the pilot was taking the time to make sure the doors didn't fall off in mid-flight, but the extra waiting was not fun.  But, at least we were back on the plane and it was air-conditioned! 

Once we finally took off, we all fell asleep for most of the rest of the trip.  I woke up as we were getting ready to land on Okinawa, and it was a little scary because Typhoon Maeri was churning around Okinawa and causing all kinds of atmospheric disturbances.  (Isn't it a coincidence that the typhoon was called "Maeri"--a name eerily similar to one of our more rambunctious children?  I guess an almighty power was trying to warn the Okinawan people of what was coming.)

In addition to the turbulence, the runway is very close to the coast, and I couldn't see any land from our window.  So as we're getting lower and lower all I could see was water and I kept thinking, "It would be really terrible to crash into the ocean after coming this far!"  Luckily, we did land on the runway, but due to the winds the landing was a little rough.  

Other than the tropical storm conditions which met as we stepped off the plane onto the tarmac, the rest of the story is kind of a blur (and not too exciting, to be honest.)  We did the usual arriving-in-a-foreign-airport kinds of things--went through customs, got luggage, and finally left the airport.  Our sponsor did arrive with a few strapping Marines and we again loaded ourselves and our luggage into 4 cars and headed to the hotel where we'd be staying until we found housing.  And that's the place we're still calling home.  We're really hoping that will change soon! 

This past week has been quite an adjustment period, as we familiarize ourselves with a new duty station, culture, and driving style. (The "rules of the road" are quite different than those in the U.S.)  I'll get more into that in my next post, but I'll end with saying that at least the first step is over--and we all got here in one piece!  I'm looking forward to settling into our new home and discovering all the unique experiences this place has to offer.